technical the basics of By Dr. Bill Eccles, Bolt Science bolted joints www.boltscience.com Over the last sixty years great improvements have been made by the fastener industry in improving the design and reliability of their products. However, no matter how well designed and made the fastener itself is, it cannot alone make the joint more reliable. Fastener selection, based upon an understanding of the mechanics of how a threaded fastener sustains loading and the influence that tightening procedures can play, is also needed. This article provides an introduction to the basics of bolted joints and the major factors involved in the design of such joints. t is not widely understood how a bolted joint carries a direct joint is typically five times or more the stiffness of the bolt, the load. A fully tightened bolt can survive in an application effect of the axial loading is to primarily reduce the compression that an untightened, or loose bolt, would fail in a matter in the joint rather than extending the bolt. This point can be Iof seconds. When a load is applied to a joint containing a difficult to appreciate, but this is key to understanding why bolts tightened bolt it does not sustain are tightened rather than left loose. the full effect of the load but usually only a small part of it. This seems, at first sight, to be somewhat contrary to common sense but hopefully this article will explain why this is the case. Bolts are made from elastic materials such as steel. When a bolt is tightened the bolt is Figure 1 stretched like a spring (figure 1). The joint itself is Figure 5 Figure 6 usually made of a Figure 5 shows a bolt and nut securing a bracket to a support metallic material which plate. With the nut loose on the bolt, if a weight of 1 is added is also elastic. As the to the bracket, as shown in figure 6, then the force in the bolt bolt is tightened, the shank will increase by 1. However, if the nut is now tightened and joint is compressed and the weight applied, the force in the bolt shank will not increase acts as a compressive by 1 but usually by only a small fraction of this amount. An spring (figure 2). understanding of why the bolt does not sustain the full effect of Figure 2 the applied load is fundamental to the subject. A model can often be of help in understanding why the bolt Put together, the bolt does not sustain the full effect of the applied load. Figure 7 is an and the joint act as a attempt to illustrate the load transfer mechanism involved in a combined spring system. bolted joint by the use of a special fastener. In the case of this In a tightened joint, fastener no significant load increase would be sustained by the the tension force in the fastener until the applied load exceeded the fastener’s preload bolt is balanced by the (preload is the term used for a bolt’s clamp force). compressive force in the With the special fastener shown, the bolt is joint (figure 3). A key point free to move within its casing, a compression Figure 3 to understanding how spring is included within the casing so that forces are transferred in a if the bolt is pulled down the spring will bolted joint is to realise that compress. A scale on the side of the casing the only way that the bolt can indicates the force present in the spring and be loaded is by applying a load hence the force present in the shank of the through the joint. bolt. Figure 7 illustrates this special fastener Loading the joint with in its untightened condition. an axial load will change The bolt is now inserted through a hole the bolt extension and the in a support plate and a bracket attached to joint compression (figure 4). the special fastener by securing a nut to the Because the stiffness of the threaded shank. If the nut is now rotated Figure 7 Figure 4 112 Fastener + Fixing Magazine • Issue 72 November 2011 technical so that the head of the bolt is applied loading prior to the joint separating. This is due to the pulled down, the spring will be joint compressing, as well as the bolt extending, when tightened. compressed. If the nut is rotated This is illustrated in figure 11. When so that 2 force units are indicated the loading is applied, the compression on the casing, the compressive of the joint is reduced. This, in turn, force acting on the spring will increases the distance between the two be 2 and the tensile force in the joint faces which, in turn, increases the bolt shank will also be 2. This loading on the bolt. The bolt and joint is illustrated in figure 8; this is stiffness can be computed and, from this, like a tightened bolt without any the proportion of the load sustained by working load applied. the bolt and the amount that the joint If a weight is now added to the compression is reduced can also be bracket (figure 9) of value 1, computed. The key aspect of the success Figure 8 then the initial reaction is to think or otherwise of the majority of bolted Figure 11 that the load in the bolt must increase, otherwise what happens joints is the residual loading that acts on the joint interface. to the additional force? Surprisingly it will keep at its existing That is, will joint separation or joint movement occur when value of 2 - it will not ‘feel’ any of the additional force. To visualise loading is applied? why this is so - imagine what would happen if the load in the As the applied load acting on the joint increases, the force bolt did increase. To do this it would clamping the joint together decreases. If the clamping force compress the spring more and a gap decreases to zero as a result of the applied load, the bolt will would be made between the bracket have to totally sustain any subsequent increase in this load. and the plate. If such a gap was to form Research has shown that bolted joints usually fail as a result then it would mean that there would be of the applied forces acting on the joint decreasing the clamp 2 units of force acting upwards - due force, present between the joint layers, to below a required level. to the spring, and 1 unit of force acting Failure can include leakage from a joint (if it contains a gasket) downwards from the applied weight. or the bolts coming loose or failing due to fatigue. Initially it may Clearly this force imbalance would not appear that the joint failure is not due to insufficient clamp force, occur. What does happen is that the but a more detailed analysis often shows that this is indeed the effect of the applied load is to decrease cause rather than defective or sub-standard bolts or the bolts the clamp force that exists between the Figure 9 sustaining too much load. plate and the bracket. With no load applied, the clamp force is 2 Many applications require that the plates comprising the joint units and with the load applied this decreases to 1 unit of force. be clamped together tightly so that any possible movement is The bolt would not actually ‘feel’ any of the applied force until it prevented. Effectively the plates are prevented from moving by exceeded the bolts clamp force. friction increased by the bolt’s clamp force. In such applications, Figure 10 shows the condition when a level of clamp force must be maintained in order that a load of 3 is applied. The joint will movement is prevented. If the clamp force reduces to below this separate and the 3 units of weight acting level, joint movement can be caused that dramatically increases down will be balanced by the 3 units of embedding (plastic deformation under the nut/bolt head) force in the spring. The point of joint resulting in the bolt quickly losing preload and then loosening separation, from a design perspective, is or failing by fatigue. If the joint contains a gasket, a minimum usually taken as the point at which the level of clamp force is usually required in order that leakage is joint will have a finite length. Besides prevented and the sealing function is maintained. Maintaining sustaining the full applied loading there a high initial bolt preload is essential to ensuring that a bolted are usually bending forces induced into joint will survive. the bolt because of eccentricity of the Figure 10 applied loading. Repeatedly applied this will rapidly lead to fatigue failure of the bolt. Prior to forming his company, Bolt Science Older design procedures proposed calculation methods based in 1992, Bill’s original background was upon the idea that the bolt will not ‘feel’ any of the applied load in design engineering. The company is a until it exceeds the bolts clamp force. That is, the bolt should be provider of independent technical expertise sized so that its clamp force is equal to the external load after a factor of safety has been included. Practical fasteners differ in bolted joint technology. He is a chartered from that shown in figure 2 in that elongation of the fastener engineer and has a Doctorate in Engineering and compression of the clamped parts occurs upon tightening. on the self-loosening of threaded fasteners.